| Venue Wedding | Tented Wedding | |
|---|---|---|
| Rehearsal | On average you’ll get 1-2 hours the night before your wedding to go over all the details that will make or break your ceremony. | Take as long as you want. And not only do you have unlimited time, but this is also one last chance to reminisce with friends and family the night before your wedding without a timeline rushing you during these special moments. |
| Decor Installation | This is very limited at venues. And every venue is different. Hopefully you come fully prepared because you’ll either get 1 whole day or just a few hours to decorate your venue and it must be cleaned up the night before or the next day of your wedding. | Take as long as you want, this is your show and on your time. If you want something crazy hanging from the ceiling than that’s what you can do. You can decorate and customize your tent from start to finish. This allows you to really be creative to showcase your full vision and style. Be creative and get as decorative as you’d like. |
| Date Availability / Options | Most venues require more up-front cost because they have limited availability and must schedule things far out. Once you book your time slot, it’s tough to “cancel” that reservation because they could have potentially lost out on another wedding for your reserved date. On average, venues require around 50% at contract / reservation signing. | All tent rental providers are different but you’re likely to pay only 25% up front and the remaining balance the week of your wedding. |
| The View | True story, a client was renting a tent from us but for use at a venue. They wanted the tent on this outside patio area by the water/stream. The owner of the venue/property ended up putting a fence and small barn building in the initially desired tent spot and completely changed the look/purpose of why the tent was being added there to begin with. You have no say in what happens to the property from the time of booking to the time of your event – unless you have some sort of legal language included but it’s unlikely venues would agree to that. | Your view is what you make it. If you have a beautiful view and the perfect location for a tent than that is the perfect spot. Nobody can create obstructions to that area or put objects in the way to take away what you want on your wedding day. |
| Vendor Selection | Many venues (not all) have very strict rules on who you can and cannot have as your wedding vendors. Why? Well because they can potentially make commission off each booking. It is an unfair partnership that you have no control of unfortunately. | This goes back to what was stated earlier, you are in charge, the creator, and the boss. You choose every vendor you’d like. This allows you to pick what you want and not what you have to settle with. We can recommend vendors in all areas of wedding production but the choice of anyone you want to partner with is all up to you. |
| Additional Out-of-Pocket Expenses | We want to be as transparent as possible with how we describe a wedding venue/property because these are the shortcomings that we’ve heard from wedding couples’ numerous times over the years. It’s a good decision to pay close attention when you reserve a “base/standard package” because you’ll end up sacrificing the ease of using a venue in the first place and take on twice the effort and responsibility for your big day. | We are a very honest company. And will tell you straight up, sidewalls, fans, heaters, lights etc are all extra money. We have a set up and breakdown fee but that is all addressed up front. Our rules stay the same and there is nothing you won’t know up front or if you ask. For example, we have a credit card processing fee., damage waiver on certain items that is non-refundable, etc. |
| You Get What You Pay For | Let’s say that your potential venue can hold up to 200 people. Let’s say it is indoors only and has a curfew of say 11pm. If your guest list is only 100 people and in the beginning of fall where the weather is crisp, and you want to celebrate all night than why would you have to pay for the extra space, staff, etc. | With a tented wedding, this isn’t the case. You rent the tent and items that match the size of your party and can adjust the headcount up until the week of the wedding. You don’t need to rent a tent too big or too small. You rent the tent that fits your needs and vision, and you keep it all weekend so there is no time limit. We usually will install the tent the week of the wedding so if you want to use it for out-of-town guests / family BBQ welcome reception on Thursday night of wedding week, you can do that! |
| Inside & Outside Space Option | If you find a venue that has both indoor and outdoor space than you’re going to pay a larger price because it is probably very nice. It would be nice if you could control whether you’re indoors or outdoors…. wait? Read the next paragraph. | This is probably the nicest part about a tent wedding. You are fully protected no matter what. You can leave your tent wide open to catch that crisp breeze or you can enclose it |
| Customized Look & Feel | Other than pictures online and an occasional walk-through with the event coordinator, what you see is what you get. This is nice because it is limited planning involved and less “work” on the wedding couple but that’s just it, options are…limited. | If you’ve ever played The Sims, you probably know that you can start with a piece of property and build your house just the way you’d like it. We offer 3D planning that can do something very similar to that. We can place a 3D layout directly onto your property using Google Maps. We hope this comparison in the options are helpful when evaluating if you should host your wedding at a venue or tented event. Venues are amazing and have their advantages as well, not to mention we provide many of them rentals for weddings, but we’ve encountered multiple couples lately that struggled with which route to go for their big day and this information may help make your wedding planning decision easier one way or the other as well. |
Johnny Aguirre wears two hats at Houston Tents & Events – Project Manager and Strategic Accounts Manager. His talent for juggling complex projects and building strong client relationships makes him an indispensable part of our team. Johnny’s dedication means your event is in the best hands.
